Fiber is now gaining acceptance in the final frontier of telephone networks, the "last mile," the connection to the home. Many homes are still connected with aging, low performance copper telephone wire that cannot support connection speeds for broadband access. The costs of maintaining these old copper cable plants is also extremely high and increasing.

Phone companies, cities, utilities and commercial service providers are now realizing the best choice for upgrading the subscriber connection is fiber to the premises or home (FTTP, FTTH, or FTTx) although fiber to the curb (FTTC) or fiber to wireless (FTTW) may be used where appropriate. The possibility of delivering new services (the triple-play of phone, Internet and video) and low priced components for with new network architectures make FTTx financially attractive for the first time. Companies are committing billions of dollars to plans for connecting millions of homes and offices with fiber.

CATV companies are considering fiber to replace coax, since the cost is reasonable and performance unlimited. Municipalities or private individuals are looking at installing their own FTTx systems when phone or CATV companies won't do it soon enough. Housing developers are learning about FTTx because their customers are demanding the highest bandwidth broadband connections.

All these plans depend on finding or training adequate numbers of technicians. The FOA, working with operating companies, municipalities, installers and our approved schools has developed requirements for FTTx training and certification, with the goal of providing enough qualified FTTx installation technicians to make these plans possible.

FOA CFOS/H Certified FTTx Technician certification programs are now being introduced in many FOA-approved schools. Students seeking certification must complete the FOA CFOT program first to obtain their first level certification, then attend a short course on FTTx that will prepare them for the CFOS/H exam. Those interested in learning about FTTx but are not seeking certification will find the courses good information on the current technology.